


Behind the Mask

by Aescela



Category: Shovel Knight
Genre: Cute Moment, F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, Gen, Mona being incredibly turned on but afraid to scare Plague Knight, Plague Knight attempting to be romantic, Plague Knight being shy and nerdy, Plague Knight without the mask, Plague of Shadows, Post-Game, Romance, fluffy fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-11
Updated: 2016-07-11
Packaged: 2018-07-22 23:31:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7457959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aescela/pseuds/Aescela
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mona and Plague Knight share a quiet moment on the rooftop of the Explodatorium and Plague Knight decides to show her the face behind the mask. Mona is surprised that she's not disappointed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Behind the Mask

“Bugger off, you greedy bunch of gluttons!”, Mona told the noisy flock of Macawbes that had gathered around them. One of them cawed unruly and tugged at her hair as it flew by. “Hey!”

“Don’t be so mean to my little darlings”, Plague Knight chided her. He held out one of his small, delicate hands, offering a Macawbe a lump of old cheese. It took the cheese gingerly from his hand, carefully minding its Master’s fingers. Then it dashed off again into the orange sky.

“Hrmpf. If they’d bite you as often as they bite me, you wouldn’t like the little bastards that much”, Mona replied, her arms crossed. She shooed another brash Macawbe away.

“Hee hee. But they _do_ like me”, Plague Knight chirped, snickering as one of the shadowy birds landed on his beak mask. He laughed when two more took place on his slim shoulders, expecting him to feed them. Mona had wanted to stay annoyed for some time more, at least until the flock of screaming, purple cloud-birds had disappeared again, but seeing her partner playing with the Macawbes put a smile on her face, whether she wanted or not.

The bag of leftovers Plague Knight had brought from the kitchen to the roof of the Explodatorium was almost empty. He tossed the last pieces of cheese and old bread into the warm evening air and giggled as the Macawbes fought noisily over the scraps. Mona shook her head and sighed. Her glance fell onto the misty horizon that was spread out far below them. The highest tower of the Explodatorium was not as high as the Flying Machine could get, but the view still was something. It certainly was a lot more comfortable than the Potionarium in the underground below the village. The sun was setting after a lovely thunderstorm that had lasted almost all day, leaving the air warm and earthy. Distant clouds on the western horizon glowed like coals in a furnace. One could even see the pointy merlons of Pridemoor Keep far in the distance. Just a few days past they had both been there for Plague Knight to receive the knightly accolade. Mona had to grin when she remembered how nervous the short knight had been among all the townsfolk, not being used to be among people, and how proud and, yes, almost more regal than the new king himself he had looked during the ceremony. Until he had that fit of crazy laughter, that is, but the spectators had applauded nonetheless, and Mona had caught herself beaming with pride. Nothing much had changed since the Tower of Fate had fallen, except that she and Plague Knight as well as their employees didn’t have to sneak into town like ordinary thieves anymore and that the alchemists were well respected, making business as well as science more profitable than ever. They had left the Potionarium under the supervision of Baz, who had proved to be quite competent, surprisingly, and moved their equipment back into the Explodatorium. Alchemistic research went on like it always had since Mona had started working for Plague Knight. Well, except...

Except that they were no longer just partners.

Mona glanced sidelong at Plague Knight sitting next to her on the edge of the roof, who waved after the flock of Macawbes as they disappeared back into the inner yard of the Explodatorium. He produced a round vial filled with the mysterious green liquid he always carried with him, put a curly straw into the beak of his mask and drank a sip. When he noticed her gaze, he offered the flagon to her.

“Do you want to try it?”

“What is it?”, Mona asked, eyeing the green substance.

“ Hee hee, I won’t tell you. You’ll have to guess, hee!”, Plague Knight came back giggling.

“Am I going to regret this?”, Mona wanted to know, carefully taking the vial from his hands and sniffing at the opening.

“I don’t know, maybe... Hee hee! Come on, where’s your scientific curiosity?”

Mona was very aware of the knight’s expectant and, to her mild concern, excited gaze on her face as she gingerly took a sip. It actually tasted very pleasant.

“It’s just green tea with a lot of sugar.”

“Not just green tea, even if that’s the base. It’s my very own formula, with guarana extract, camphor sap, tarragon and ghostplant. Better than any coffee if you want to stay awake all night”, Plague Knight explained.

“Oh, I’ve heard of camphor before! It is part of the essential oil in the bark of _Cinnamomum camphora_ , isn’t it? How did you extract it?”, Mona asked excitedly.

They started chatting about alchemical techniques and ingredients, and once more Mona was amazed at the sheer amount of knowledge Plague Knight possessed and how much it awoke her interest. It reminded her of the time when she had first met him. Even back then, years ago, she had been fascinated by the short, quirky alchemist and the wonders he could do with beakers and vials. Not that she wasn’t an expert and well experienced alchemist herself, she was very aware of that, but Plague Knight was simply outstanding. Besides, his weird habits and sarcastic humor together with his ingenious mind always verging on the border of mild insanity attracted her in a way she could hardly explain. She had to admit that it had not taken her long to develop… feelings of a different kind for him.

While Mona pondered about that, something Plague Knight just had said came back to her mind.

“Wait... Why do you want to stay awake all night today?”, she asked.

To her surprise, Plague Knight reacted by turning his beak away and shyly tapping the tips of his fingers together. She could almost _feel_ him blush under the mask.

“Well, I... It has been a very long day of experimenting, and I’m pretty tired, but I really wanted to spend some time with you before... Before I get even more tired than I already am...” He broke off. Mona smiled at him, feeling a warm rush in her heart. He still was so awkward and shy about their relationship, even after they had confessed their feelings to each other quite a while ago.

“That’s really cute of you. But if you want to go to bed I won’t be angry...”

“No!”, he exclaimed quickly before he ducked his head again. “No, I... Hee hee... I’d rather stay with you on the roof.” Plague Knight shuffled a little closer to her until they sat side by side. When Mona put her arm around his shoulders she felt him flinch, but then he pressed his short stature closely against her side, putting his hand on hers. Being quite a bit shorter than her, he could snuggle up comfortably between her arm and body, his head resting against her shoulder.

They enjoyed the view and the evening breeze tugging at their robes, mixed with the familiar smells of the funnels and vents that traversed the Explodatorium.

“Mona...?”, Plague Knight ventured after a while of peaceful silence.

“Yes?”

“Can I... hee hee...”, he snickered shyly.

“Come on, spit it out. What is it?”

“Can I... Would you mind, I mean... “, he stuttered hesitantly before taking a deep breath. “Can I have a kiss?”

Mona turned her head to gaze down at Plague Knight, blinking in surprise. They had confessed their feelings to each other, they had been holding hands, they had had a romantic dinner for two on the deck of the Flying Machine, they had been dancing a lot, holding each other close, but a kiss? No, not yet.

Mona came to the conclusion that she didn’t mind. Not at all. It was just a kiss on his mask, no big deal.

“Of course”, she said softly. She leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss on his beak. Plague Knight reacted by snickering excitedly and tilting his head.

“Hee hee... Thanks”, he croaked. Mona grinned widely.

“You’re welcome. Did you like it?”

Plague Knight nodded fiercely.

“Another one?”

More nodding.

Mona kissed him on his beak again. Yes, no big deal, just a kiss on his mask, but still... It felt _good_. This time, Plague Knight held completely still, as if dreamily enjoying the sensation. Mona had to laugh.

“You’re adorable.”

Plague Knight giggled.

Then he did something that quite stole her breath. They had been spending a  lot of time together and knew each other quite well, and even before they had started their relationship in a more official way the chemistry (or, _alchemy_ , more like it) had been amazingly good between them. Thus, their minds often worked in synch, but sometimes Plague Knight seemed to know her very thoughts as if he could read her mind. Just like he did now.

“Do you also want, erm... a kiss? Maybe?”, he asked carefully a heartbeat before Mona could think about this. She stared down at him for a moment before answering. Yes, she really did.

“I’d really like to, Plague Knight”, she replied. “Otherwise it would be kinda unfair, wouldn’t it?”, she added in an attempt to take some of the nervousness away that he was radiating.

Plague Knight snickered.

“And... How are you going to do this?”, Mona asked. He was not going to take his mask off, was he? She had never seen him without it, only once, from behind and quite a distance away, in a dark room. She was pretty certain that his hair was dark, but that might have been the poor light in his chambers, and he had pulled the hood over his head way too fast for her to see any details. The mask with the long beak basically was his face to her.

Again, he seemed to read her mind.

“I... I just thought that... Now that you and I are, you know, a _couple_ , somehow... Hee hee hee”, he snickered before clearing his throat and taking a more serious tone, “I thought that sooner or later, you might want to see my face. My actual face, I mean. To know what you’re getting into...” He broke off, hesitating. He looked like he already regretted his offer.

Mona pressed him a little closer, trying to comfort him. He was right, as always.

“You know, I’d love to see you without the mask. Really. You know how I feel about you, Plague Knight, and nothing’s going to change that. Okay?”

Plague Knight nodded carefully. He lifted his hands up to the rim of his hood.

Then he stopped.

“Are you sure about this? I mean, hee hee, maybe it’s a little late already. We could do that tomorrow or maybe the day after...”

Was she sure she wanted to see him? Mona clenched her fists as she thought about this. She loved Plague Knight, she really did. She loved everything he was, every aspect of his crazy personality, his talents and strengths as well as his flaws. She didn’t mind him being short and somewhat, well, quite the opposite of Polar Knight when it came to physical appearances. She actually liked having somebody who was not all brawny, but delicate and sensible. A cunning scientist, a man of the mind through and through, and still a fearsome warrior. Still, and she almost felt a little guilty for admitting this, she also loved the way he looked with his beak mask. A tiny, insecure part of her feared that she might be... well, not repelled by the way he looked behind the mask, but at least a little intimidated. That she would not love the way Plague Knight looked as much as she loved his personality.

It was a stupid, shallow and frustrating thought. But refusing to let him show his face just to keep up the illusion was all wrong. _What illusion, by the way?_ , Mona asked herself. She had never really pictured Plague Knight without his mask, never replaced the beak with a made-up face when she dreamed about him. Oh yes, she _had_ dreamed about him, more often than she wanted to admit to herself. But she had always seen him with the mask. Part of her feared that this mental image she had of him would be shattered as soon as she saw his real face.

Mona sighed. How bad could it be? He would still be Plague Knight, _her_ Plague Knight, and nothing in this world could change that. She wanted to accept and genuinely love him if just like he was.

“Of course I’m sure, silly. Take off your hood and your mask”, Mona asked him, trying to sound encouraging.

“Well... fine, then.”

Plague Knight grabbed the rim of his hood and pulled it back, revealing the whole beak mask covering his skull. Tufts of black hair peeked out from under the mask. He turned his face away from her, undid the strap that fastened the mask behind his head and slowly, as if he was very scared, put it aside.

Plague Knight, his mask in his lap, turned around and looked at her.

A whole lot of emotions swirled through Mona’s mind faster than she could take it.

The whole time, in her subconsciousness, she had been thinking of ugly people, trying to imagine a worst case scenario. You didn’t expect somebody who professionally created pestilences and diseases to look like a handsome young dandy. Now, she had to think of people who were naturally ugly and covered their flaws and eyesores with powders, paint and creams, so that from a certain point of view they looked pretty, in a way. But under that cover, under the paint, you could still see their ugliness, and nothing could change that.

Plague Knight was just the opposite.

From only a first, quick glance, one might just see his flaws. There were dark plague-spots here and there on his pale green skin, discoloured by years of work in shrouds of alchemistic steams, something that had happened to Mona’s skin as well. He had scars, probably from wounds, welts or the shards of flasks that had exploded in his face when he wasn’t wearing his mask. His hair was fluffy, messy and pitch black like the plumes of a crow, but there were lots of patches on his scalp without any hair at all, as if acid burns had damaged the skin too much for hair to grow back. Some strands had shoulder-length, others were shorter. One half of his scalp was burned more severely with the skin being almost hairless, which made him look like he wore some kind of sidecut. Here and there, bits of hairs sprouted between the burns like tiny feathers.

Overall, from just a short glance, one might have wanted to call him ugly, but under the obvious flaws, after looking him over more thoroughly, things were different. Plague Knights face itself was slim and delicate, with prominent cheekbones and a mess of thin dark stubbles covering his jaws and chin. She could never judge his real age, his biological age being tweaked by alchemistic substances. Some aspects of his features looked old while others looked very young. His pale lips were thin, his nose slightly beaked but still as delicate looking as the rest. And his _eyes_...

Plague Knight’s worried, round eyes under the thin eyebrows, somewhat deep in their dark sockets, were as bright and awake as the ones of a young buzzard. They had a golden colour so light it was almost silver, with tiny dark pupils, making him look both alert and fiery, as if he was ready to flee at any moment or fight to the bitter end if he had to.

Yes... In a way, he was ugly, but he was also beautiful. He was incredibly beautiful.

Mona realized she had been holding her breath. The longer she looked him over, the more she noticed the hidden beauty under the scars, welts and weirdly coloured freckles. She felt her cheeks hurt. She had been smiling all the time, and her smile grew even wider.

Plague Knight obviously noticed her expression change. He cocked his head and gazed up at her.

“So... What do you think, Mona? Not _that_ bad?”

Mona laughed.

“Oh Plague Knight, you are so _handsome_! I like your face, I really do!”

Plague Knight blushed, or, at least turned a darker shade of pale green, and turned his head to the side.

“Oh, _hee_ , stop it, I’m not.”

“Yes, you are.”

Mona reached out to put her hands on his cheeks, but then stopped. She removed her gloves. Then she reached out again and cupped his face in her hands, stroking his cheeks and running one finger along his jaw line, feeling his skin under her naked palms. Plague Knight watched her carefully as she did so, as if he was trying to find out whether she said the truth or not. Mona bent down slowly and pressed a kiss on his forehead. His skin was cool and slightly damp, probably because of his previous nervousness.

Plague Knight’s mouth curled into a wide grin, revealing a set of teeth that were white for the most part. Some of them had bits missing so that they were quite sharp. He looked incredibly relieved.

“Hee hee... My Mona likes me!”, he snickered.

The sound of his laughter was as familiar to Mona as the sound of her own breathing, but actually seeing him smile while he laughed was an utterly different experience. She felt her heart beat faster and a rush of blood to the head. Quietly chiding herself to stop behaving like a silly maiden, she tried to compose herself.

“So...”, she said, tilting her head, “You promised me a kiss, remember?”

Plague Knight’s bright eyes grew wider and he blushed again.

“Hee hee hee... But...”

“But what?”

“I...”, Plague Knight stammered hoarsely, avoiding her gaze, “It might be that I’ve never kissed a girl.”

Mona blinked. Why was she surprised? Little as she knew about Plague Knight’s muddy past, she knew that he had been an alchemist all his life and, cliché or not, alchemists weren’t really known for their skills as skirt chasers. It was an infamous science, feared by the commons and dominated by male practitioners, and she knew that exceptions like her were rare, sadly. So, apparently, in his case he seemed to always have been what Mona expected a full-blood alchemist to be: A geeky bookworm rather spending time in his laboratory than engaging in any kind of social activities. Not that she was any different, besides... Her own love life confined itself to a number of rather disappointing acquaintances that had bored her to death after only a short time. Mona was not very social herself and, given her exotic interests and choice of career, had never really fit in until she had met her soul mate in the Explodatorium. She couldn’t blame Plague Knight for his inexperience.

It meant that she had the chance to help him _gain_ experiences...

“That’s no problem, really”, she soothed, gently ruffling his hair. He cooed. “You know how it works, right?”

“Of course!”, Plague Knight came back indignantly.

“Well then. Just go ahead and try”, Mona suggested.

She brought her face closer to him. Plague Knight, carefully approaching her as if he might get bitten if he moved too fast, placed a hand on her shoulder. He slowly leaned in so that his face was right next to Mona’s. She closed her eyes. He was so close that she could feel his warm breath on her cheek. A warm, tingling sensation made the tiny hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. Mona already was familiar with his scent, a slightly sweaty, sweetish musk mixed with the smells of years in the alchemistic laboratory, but all in all very alluring. He just had never been _this_ close to her before.

Then, there was it, she could almost hear the sound of his breathing, feel his lips brushing against her skin...

Plague Knight burst into laughter right next to her ear.

“ _What the_...?”, Mona exclaimed. She had almost tipped over in shock. The short knight rolled next to her on the roof, holding his belly as he laughed. Mona shook her head. It had almost felt magical. Almost. But this was so _him_...

“What’s the matter all of a sudden?”, she wanted to know, crossing her arms. Plague Knight had managed to bring himself back into a sitting position, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye. His shoulders still shook as he snickered.

“Hee hee hee... I’m sorry, Mona... I’ll try again. Sorry.”

Again, she leaned down to him, and he brought his face closer to hers, and again she closed her eyes expectantly, with a part deep inside her wanting to feel his lips on her skin so _desperately_ that it almost hurt...

Plague Knight burst into laughter once more.

“Seriously?”, Mona asked him, now feeling annoyed. He snickered and laughed uncontrollably. Mona didn’t think a kiss was that funny, not at all. What did he think this was? A _joke_?

 “Would you be so kind to explain to me why you’re laughing like a maniac after you just tried to kiss me?”, she wanted to know indignantly.

Plague Knight, still giggling, obviously tried to fight back his fit of laughter while he crawled back into a sitting position.

“Hee hee... Oh Mona, I’m so sorry...”

“What’s wrong? Is my face that funny?” This started to get on Mona’s nerves.

Plague Knight looked up at her, blinking another tear away.

“No, of course not! Your face is a vision of delight, really. It’s just... Hee hee!” He snickered again.

“ _Yes_?”, Mona asked, dangerously slow.

“It’s just that I’m so happy when I’m with you.”

Mona was stunned.

“I...”, Plague Knight croaked, fumbling for words, “I’ve never been this happy in my entire life before, you know... All those years I’ve spent my time creating potions and plagues and gaining knowledge, and then _you_ have come to into my life and since then I’ve tried everything I could to win your heart, and now you say that you love me, and we’ve been _dancing_... And now you want me to _kiss_ you... It’s overwhelming. I’m very sorry if I upset you.”

Mona didn’t know what to reply. She hadn’t known that all this might be too much for Plague Knight. He hadn’t meant to be rude, he simply had reacted the way _he_ would react to a new and somewhat intimidating situation. And the things he just said...

_It’s just that I’m so happy when I’m with you._

Mona felt like her heart was melting.

She wrapped him in her arms and pressed him close, burying her face in his jet-black hair. She felt him flinch, but then he relaxed in her embrace, putting his arms around her waist. Soon he started quietly humming to himself. As Mona gazed down on him, she could see he was smiling.

“I love you, Plague Knight.”

“Hee hee hee... _Ahem_. Sorry...”

“It’s fine. Don’t apologize.”

“I love you too, Mona.”

They hugged each other even closer.

After a while, Plague Knight looked up, an odd expression on his face that was somewhere between a shy smile and a playful smirk.

“Mind if I try again? This time I won’t lose it, I promise. At least I’ll try...”

“Please do.”

For the third time, Mona waited for him to come closer, seeing the insecurity in his silvery eyes as well as a longing tension. She closed her eyes. This time, he didn’t laugh. She felt Plague Knight’s hot breath on her cheek, the prickly stubbles and then his cool lips as they softly touched her skin, just for a heartbeat. Mona inhaled slowly, savouring his scent while he was this close to her. Her chest felt like it was filled with glowing embers. When she opened her eyes, he was still there, inches away from her face, with an expression she had never seen on him before. There was a glitter hidden deeply in those silver eyes resembling the one he got whenever an important experiment was successful, but even more intense. The hand he had placed on her shoulder was shaking ever so slightly.

“Again?”, Plague Knight whispered so quietly that she barely heard it. Mona just nodded, closing her eyes.

Once more she felt his lips on her cheek, not so hesitantly this time. After the kiss, his mouth remained close to her face, lingering for a heartbeat, then touching her skin again.

Mona’s body reacted automatically.

She turned her head so that she was facing Plague Knight frontally, catching his mouth with hers. She was aware of his flinch and a twitch of his fingers, but he didn’t pull back. While their kiss lasted, she wrapped her arms around him. Plague Knight put a hand behind her head, digging his fingers into her short, black-and-purple hair. Mona felt a powerful chill run down her spine, causing her to exhale sharply. His lips felt cool and soft against hers, and despite his slight trembling she could tell that he liked it just as much. Mona took a risk and brushed her tongue against his lips. Plague Knight opened his eyes for a moment, staring at her in mild astonishment. _Eyes of a young buzzard_... She couldn’t stop herself and ran her tongue across his lips once more. This time, Plague Knight complied and opened his mouth a bit, allowing her to deepen the kiss. His saliva was a sweet, strange concoction and the complex taste made her shiver with pleasure. She pulled back her tongue as if inviting him to do the same, and after a moment of hesitation he carefully did. Mona felt his fingers tighten their grip as his tongue touched hers. Plague Knight took a shuddering breath, turned his head a bit and kissed her again.

It was magic. No, she chided herself, it was not, it was better, way better... It was _alchemy_.

Mona lost every sense of space and time while she was sitting with Plague Knight on the edge of the roof on top of the Explodatorium, kissing him. She was aware of her own blissful shivering each time his tongue brushed against hers, and he seemed to enjoy what it did to her. He even placed a small hand on her cheek, and then, to her utter surprise and delight, gently and slowly let the tips of his fingers trail her jaw line until he reached her neck. Mona couldn’t help but inhale sharply, suppressing a sudden moan, when his cool fingers brushed her skin. Her spine tingled. When she opened her eyes for a moment, she was aware of his intense silvery stare. There was something in his gaze that could only be described as _knowing_. Plague Knight smiled an almost crazy wide grin. Encouraged by her reaction, it seemed, he inclined his head and kissed her chin. Mona, on the inside yelling at him to proceed, tilted her head back to give him an easier job of it. She could already feel his warm breath on her neck, and soon his lips would touch the sensitive skin there, and maybe, only maybe, his tongue as well, and he would passionately lick her neck and drive those shivers down her spine...

Before any of this could happen, Plague Knight stopped.

He swirled around, snatched the beak mask from the roof and had his face covered with his mask and hood in the blink of an eye. Before Mona could even ask him what the matter was, she heard the heavy stamping of hooves on the stairs that lead up to the highest tower of the Explodatorium.

“Oh _dammit_...”, she sighed when Percy already stomped happily towards them and flopped down right between her and Plague Knight.

“Oh my, isn’t this a _wonderful_ evening?”, the horse exclaimed.

“It certainly is, Percy”, Plague Knight snarled through clenched teeth. Mona noticed his extremely annoyed tone. She leaned back to catch a glimpse of him behind Percy, while the short knight, hidden by the sturdy horse, was trying the same by leaning forward. There was a short, confusing moment in which both tried to peek around Percy to look at each other unsuccessfully, giving up with a unison sigh. Percy was oblivious to this and chatted on blithely.

“The way the sun sets majestically behind the horizon is such a beautiful sight. And the wind that caresses one’s mane...”

“Yes, Percy...”

“One could say that this is the _perfect_ occasion for a romantic rendez-vous.”

“Exactly, Percy.”

“You are _so_ right, Plague Knight”, Percy confirmed. He leaned back and stared into the evening sun, completely unaware to the seething knight and the very disappointed Mona next to him. Plague Knight had been _so close_ to getting past his shyness, he had even tried to kiss her neck! The taste of his tongue still hung onto hers and she caught herself licking her lips. Before she could help it, she brought her hands to her nose and, as discretely as possible, inhaled the scent of his hair that lingered there, like carefully testing the dazing content of a vial. In a fit of dreamy transcendence, Mona let her own fingertips trail down the curve of her neck, imagining how it would have been if he had kissed it.

Before that oaf of a horse had interrupted them and killed the mood.

She opened one eye and peeked over at Plague Knight, whose beak flicked into a different direction. Had he seen her...? Maybe.

Mona sighed. Percy’s chattering rang hollow in her ears, she was barely listening. Plague Knight answered him in very short sentences, obviously just as annoyed as her. This was so _typical_. Finally they got some time for themselves and Plague Knight felt brave enough to try some new things, and then _this_ happened. After their first dance in the cellar of the Potionarium, something quite similar had interrupted their intimacy. It had been such a romantic, wonderful evening, with her and Plague Knight finally getting a little closer to each other. She had been imagining herself dancing with him so very often, and apparently he had wished to do so as well, but never dared to ask her out. After their dance (during which Plague Knight had proven to be such a skilled dancer that Mona had asked herself whether he had had a teacher or a course), they had been standing in a silent embrace, just enjoying the moment, until one of the Plague Minions had burst into the cellar, asking them whether they preferred orange juice or apple juice.

Mona remembered Plague Knight’s ranting and cursing and the load of bombs he had been tossing after his unlucky employee vividly. After the minion had vanished, Plague Knight had been quite shy again, as if a spell had been broken by the sudden interruption. Just like now, when Percy had sabotaged their intimacy. Somehow, she had hoped that after the dance they might get the chance to spend some more time together. Still, it had been such a magical time ( _alchemical_ , she corrected herself), and Plague Knight had been just adorable when he had escorted her to her bedroom, wishing her a good night while he held her hand, radiating incredulous bliss.

“Well, I’m afraid I have to leave you again. Sorry for that, but I still have a lot of scientific work to do”, Percy announced.

“Of course you have, Percy.”

The horse stood up and stomped back across the roof and down the stairs, leaving a gap between Mona and Plague Knight. Mona could sense that he was unsure what to do now. Approaching her on his own accord seemed to be something he didn’t already feel brave enough to do. She sighed and gently patted the empty space next to her, inviting the short knight to come closer.

Plague Knight, his beak turned in the other direction, shuffled over to Mona until they sat side by side again. He rubbed his head against her shoulder, making a happy cooing sound like a pigeon in love. Mona grinned.

She was tempted to simply ask him _Well, why don’t we just continue where we left off?_ or something of that nature, but she knew he was way too shy for such a straightforward thing. Since she was the first romantic relationship Plague Knight ever had, he had to get used to any kind of intimacies, as chaste as they might be. Mona didn’t want to overwhelm him or rush anything.

But still... The kiss they had exchanged had left her craving desperately for more. She frowned, biting her lip, and peeked down at Plague Knight, who seemed to be content to just sit next to her and stare into the last red sunrays. Mona sighed and did the same.

Suddenly, she felt something pointy poke her neck.

She turned her head, irritated. Plague Knight gazed into the sunset. Shrugging, Mona turned back to the view.

Something poked her neck again, and this time she swivelled around fast enough to see Plague Knight turn his head away. She stared at him in confusion. Plague Knight giggled quietly.

“Did you just poke me with your beak?”

“Hee hee hee... Maybe”, he came back snickering.

“Do that again.”

Plague Knight, still giggling, carefully touched her neck with the tip of his beak.

“Is that supposed to be a beak-kiss or something?”, Mona asked. She had to smile, despite herself.

Plague Knight nodded.

“Well... Thanks, I guess.”

“Hee hee!”

“Would you... Would you poke my neck again? But without the mask, this time.”

There was no answer, and Mona almost thought that she had unsettled him. But then, without saying a word, Plague Knight pulled back the hood, unfastened his mask and put it aside. She wasn’t used to seeing his real face yet and was amazed all over again by the hidden beauty under the scars, plague spots and weird discolorations, amazed by his intense golden-silvery eyes.

Mona waited as he carefully brought his head closer to her, closing her eyes. Plague Knight was giggling quietly, his breath tickling her skin.

“Hee hee heee... sorry...”

“Shh, it’s okay. Just go on”, she whispered back.

As Plague Knight’s cool lips finally touched her neck, a shiver ran down her spine, causing her hands to clench the fabric of the coat she was sitting on. He was still careful, brushing his lips against her skin only slightly, but enough for her to feel the warmth he was radiating, to inhale his scent.

It almost embarrassed her to realize how damn _good_ this felt.

And then he licked her neck, very shortly, as if he was testing a new ingredient to see if it was toxic. Mona had to bite her lip to suppress a moan.

“You taste sweet”, he informed her quietly.

“Please, do that again...”

Plague Knight did. His wet, hot tongue flicked across her neck like a flame. She tilted her head to give him an easier job of it, enjoying the unbelievingly mesmerizing feeling of his tongue on her skin... and suddenly he was licking her ear. Biting back a curse or praise, or both, she wasn’t sure, Mona turned around and caught his mouth with hers. This time, he didn’t flinch, and he even wrapped his slender arms around her, stroking her back and shoulders. While they were kissing, Mona barely noticed the cool wind that was blowing now that the sun had vanished behind the horizon, leaving the sky splattered with pink and orange dots like spilled potions. Her mind felt wiped clean and all her senses were alert and wide-awake like under the effect of a drug, and still there was a blissful feeling of dizziness, causing her to shiver every so often. Her vision was blurred but for Plague Knight in front of her, inhaling sharply as she dug her fingers into his hair. When he opened his eyes for a moment she could see they were shrouded, his pupils large and black as if he had had an overdose of atropine. He was breathing more heavily now, kissing her with wet, warm lips, his face flushed with dark green. A fire glowed inside her chest, as if she had a fever.

Maybe she had...

A plague had taken Mona, it seemed, and it seemed like her knight was just as afflicted as her.

She knew there was no cure to this.

But there was _alchemy_.

 


End file.
